#aranislands – A record fleet descended on the recently extended harbour at Kilronan in the Aran Islands last weekend (July 5-7) in an initiative co-ordinated by Pierce Purcell of Purcell Marine in Clarenbridge, with John O'Malley rounding up the North Shore fleet. With the all-embracing title of the Galway Afloat West Coast Gathering Cruise-in-Company, just about every option was covered, and the west coast fleets responded with enthusiasm.
In all, boat numbers topped the 50 mark, with the main group sailing from within Galway Bay to bring 37 boats west to the Inishmore and the hospitality of Kilronan. As well, there were others from Ballyvaughan and Connemara, but more impressively the event attracted cruisers from the Shannon Estuary, Fenit and Dingle, while a cruiser from Barcelona on Spain's Mediterranean coast found herself involved as she'd sailed into Kilronan from the Azores to find a right come-all-ye getting under way.
On the Saturday, 15 young sailors from the new Sailing Club in Kilronan (where the Commodore is Michael Gill) joined with members of Galway Bay SC for a taste of inshore racing, and an impromptu prize-giving in Ti Joe Watty's rounded out the sport.
The hospitality was the high point of the weekend, with the welcome led by Kilronan Harbour Master Patrick McDonagh, who had been liaising with Galway Harbour Master Brian Sheridan. On the island, the celebrations at Ti Joe Watty's were well matched by the fine food provided by P J and Grace Flaherty, and through Sunday, it was a very contented fleet which dispersed towards their many home ports. It had been an impressive turnout, but Pierce Purcell isn't one to rest on his laurels. He notes that his Galway Afloat database lists 220 boats in the region, so he'll be rattling some cages to get more of them into action and availing of the wonderful sailing waters of the west with more events like this.
